EPA Announces Final Gowanus Cleanup Plan

The final plan to clean up the Gowanus is in — and it’s only a partial cleanup. The EPA will dredge the canal to remove the toxic cancer-causing sludge at the bottom, but sewage from city sewer overflows will still pour into the canal, DNAinfo and many other outlets reported. (Fixing that would require rebuilding the city sewer system.) Two new overflow tanks will help reduce the sewage flowing in. In the end, though, the Gowanus may be clean enough for boating, but not swimming or fishing, said EPA regional administrator Judith Enck, above.

The New York Post had a great description of the canal’s history: “The Gowanus was built in 1848, quickly becoming one of the country’s busiest industrial waterways, flanked by gas and coal companies, chemical and cement manufacturers, plus paint and ink factories, machine shops and tanneries — all discharging into the canal.”

A toxic sludge disposal facility will not be located in Red Hook, and the location of the overflow tanks, a controversial subject affecting a nearby public pool, has yet to be determined, said DNAinfo. The cleanup won’t start for another three years, and will take about a decade. It will cost $506 million.